The Strawberry
by danvseveryone
Summary: Groot didn't understand and to be fair to Peter he didn't understand most things. He liked Peter's large smile though as he planted the seeds in his old pot he had out grown a few weeks ago and just listened to him as he chattered away.


Groot didn't understand and to be fair to Peter he didn't understand most things. He liked Peter's large smile though as he planted the seeds in his old pot he had out grown a few weeks ago and just listened to him as he chattered away.

"You are going to love these, dude," he said making Groot feel a strong sense of pride he was sharing this information with him and not the others who would have probably gained more from his babbling, "Back home, me and mom would walk down to this farm every summer and he would let us pick these for free."

Groot placed his hand on Peter's larger hand as he stopped patting the soil and just seemed to become listless as he stared at the wall. Groot looked towards it as well wondering if he was missing something that had taken the man's smile away and vowed to destroy it to get it back. Peter's smiles were pure sunshine and worth protecting, even Rocket who didn't value smiles as much agreed on that.

"It's ok, Groot," he whispered scooping him up into his large hand and cuddling him close, in only the way Peter knew how to, "My mind just gets a little lost sometimes thinking of home and my mom but I just want to share a little bit of what I remember were good times with you guys and I have missed strawberries so much. They are the freaking best. You are gonna love them, man. Way better than that shit Rocket picked up at the market."

Peter looked at the planted seeds and scrunched his face as he did when he was thinking and Groot became concerned once more placing his hand gently on his face. Rocket always said his head might explode if he thought too hard. His brain just wasn't big enough to function like that. Groot pressed his own face against Peter's hoping to help his brain function better, transfer some of his own energy to Peter until Rocket could hopefully fix this problem so he didn't have to worry so much.

"I know!" he exclaimed in his usual Peter volume, not as loud as Drax but far too loud to be anyone else, "I'm gonna make a pie. A strawberry cream pie just like my mom taught me. I have the recipe in my bag somewhere, I can find similar enough ingredients around I'm sure."

"I am Groot!" he said snuggling against Peter's cheek making the man glow once more.

He didn't know what a pie was or why someone would go to the trouble of making one when you could just eat the fruit but Groot liked it when Peter was happy.

Groot knew he didn't need to but he stayed close to Peter's beloved strawberry pot the next few days. Refusing even Rocket's yells for him, keeping a close on the now budding plants, making certain they were growing right and no one disturbed them.

"Groot! Get away from Peter's thing!" Rocket yelled at him.

"I am Groot," he said firmly crossing his arms.

"I don't care if they are called Strawberries! They are stupid and not worth watching over! I told Peter and I'm gonna tell you the same thing, that man was full of bull and that shit ain't Terran!"

"I am Groot."

"Peter trusts everyone! Last time he bought Terran food off the black market, we were in the hospital a week!"

Groot remembered that. It was very bad. The things called Twinkies Peter had been excited about ended up making him very ill. He had tried to reason they were from Terra because they were in a sealed box and the yellow logs were individually wrapped. Rocket had wisely forbid him from eating the treats and Drax turned his nose to them saying nothing yellow could be good for you. Gamora had even tried to steal one of the yellow logs from Peter but he stubbornly shoved it into his mouth anyway and then proceeded to eat all seven of them the more he was told not to eat them.

The next morning had been very bad, Groot feared they were going to lose him when he couldn't keep even water down without vomiting. He became worse over the next few days, refusing to go to the hospital saying he was fine, a very Peter thing to do he realized and only when he began vomiting blood and collapsed did they seek medical treatment.

They were not the things known as Twinkies and instead a highly toxic substance to Terrans that someone had tried to assassinate Peter with.

Groot had a good feeling about the strawberries though, they didn't feel dangerous and if they did he wouldn't let Peter eat them. He told this to Rocket but he 'hmphed' at him and flicked the budding plant with distrust.

"Forget it, neither of you are eating this thing. No more hospital visits."

Rocket didn't trust a lot of things to be fair and he had very good reasons not to but Groot trusted the feel he got off the plants. They weren't bad for Peter and wouldn't harm him. He knew they wouldn't, he couldn't say how he knew but the little plant did not feel poisonous.

Groot was often annoyed with Drax and today was no exception. He did not like the way he made Rocket mad nor did he like how loud he was. Peter wasn't quiet but his loudness was never annoying like Drax's.

Groot did not like the way he made Peter put his head sets on that morning while he was watering the strawberry. It was unfair to say Peter's music gave him a head ache when he marched around the way he did with his heavy foot falls.

Peter was very kind and didn't even give him a sarcastic remark as Rocket would have and only gave him the 'OK' sign before sliding his head sets back into the slot and to Groot's delight, set them around him so he could still listen to the music.

"Drax is hung over," he chuckled softly to Groot, "Dude drank half the bar last night and got a gnarly head injury from some big dude. Don't worry though, Rock shot him."

Groot would have felt more sympathy if he weren't so annoyed with him not letting the three of them (he, Peter and the strawberry) enjoy their music in peace.

Peter took to softly humming the song he couldn't hear now that was pulsing just loud enough for Groot only to hear.

"I know that song by heart, buddy," he said when Groot picked up the head sets for him to hear the song as it was meant to be enjoyed as well, "You keep it."

Groot happily complied and was more over the moon (a term Peter taught him that stupid people like Drax didn't understand) when he let him keep the Walkman as he left to go attend to Drax who was complaining loudly in the kitchen about the lack of coffee.

Groot smiled brighter putting his hand down firmly in the strawberries soil and sending little pulses down to its roots, helping it grow.

He would soon have the pie Peter talked about so happily and this time it would not end badly. Groot had good feelings about the strawberry.

"That was stupid and reckless!"

Groot woke up, startled to Gamora yelling at Peter who was grumbling something to her that made her angrier.

"You are lucky you are not dead! You will sit down and stop being a child and let me patch that!"

"It's a scratch, Gams, don't worry so much," Peter hissed and Groot instantly became concerned peaking over the little bush like plant that was beginning to sprout the strawberries.

He heard Peter's exaggerated sigh and him flopping down at the kitchen table and instantly knew what he could do to make him feel better. He plucked the only full grown and ripened strawberry and instantly ran over to his friend.

Peter wasn't paying much attention, which wasn't abnormal and something he was usually yelled at about by Gamora and Rocket, picking boredly at the small tear in his jacket and flicking at the long red line on his skin. He propped his foot up on the table in a way Rocket said was unsanitary and tipped his chair back in a fashion that worried Groot, it looked very unsafe.

He slid his head sets on and Groot heard the chanting of Blue Swede faintly coming from the device.

He jumped a little to get a handful of Peter's pant leg and yanked at it firmly to get his attention. Peter's eyes flicked down and the annoyance turned into a genuine smile.

"Hey buddy, what cha got behind your back?"

Happily Groot presented him the strawberry and Peter let out an excited shout that had Rocket and Drax instantly back in the room.

"Dudes, look! The Strawberries did grow!"

"Don't you dare eat it," Rocket hissed.

"Dude, its fruit, its good for you," he responded with a roll of his eyes.

"It does not look edible," Drax said eying the fruit siding with Rocket on the matter making Groot annoyed with him once more.

"Peter, I swear, you put that in your mouth before I check it, I am going to kill you," Gamora threatened coming back into the room first aid kit in hand.

Peter, being Peter, had a mischievous look on his face as he took the fruit from Groot and ate it with one bite instantly making Gamora tackle him, yelling for him to spit that thing out, NOW.

Rocket was swearing under his breath as he went to the little bush and began taking scans of the fruit and called it wasn't toxic making Drax drop a very annoyed Peter who Gamora had been shoving her fingers in his mouth trying to induce vomiting. Peter was starting up his lecture about personal boundaries when Groot turned a cheeky smile to Rocket.

"I am Groot."

"Well I trust your judgement more than Peter's," Rocket grunted, "But not by much so don't be too cocky."


End file.
